My Waves - 7/25/15

I caught a few good ones in between getting hammered. I mostly went left today to avoid the crowds (and the jackass shortboarder mouthing off like he was the next best surfer to Duke Kahanamoku), but there isn't a well defined channel on that side of the wave - that means a beating during the sets. The set waves were well overhead - super fun!!! I decided to wear a solar shirt to avoid getting fried. I hate swimming with a shirt on (flashbacks to dive school...), but I didn't get burned! I didn't get barreled in this wave - the bottom doesn't incline fast enough to drive the waves over, but I did escape a mauling at the end of the ride. If the waves were any bigger, I would have not been able to turn this board. The rails at the back half of the board are too thick to dig into the wave face - good thing I like this size wave ;) The gopro battery died after this wave. And then my leash popped with a necking failure (technical term thrown in here since I am an Engineer) shortly after that. I don't know what's up with leashes these days - I used to go a year and a half before snapping leashes. I am barely getting 4 months out of the leashes sold these days... Anyways - good session despite the small setbacks.

Sunday Dawn Patrol at Turtlebacks

Went on a dawn patrol with Charlie. There were 6 guys out when we got there on short and longboards. Charlie got some good rides. I saw him racing down the line on an overhead wave - too far away to take pictures with the gopro. This pictures are from a sequence where he rode one further in (but still pretty far away). For me this session was a big pile of steaming hot humility. My leash broke after two waves. I had to swim quite a ways to get back to the board (at least there wasn't a significant wind or current - or I wouldn't have gotten the board back at all). Swimming with a paddle in one hand, reefwalkers on your feet and a broken leash on your ankle is not easy. And it didn't end there. I figured I could ride some waves on the inside and not lose the board - not true. And with the wipeout came the long swim again. There was a local out there on a new Blane Chambers Paddle Surf Hawaii SUP - he was ripping it up!!! I did manage to get a few rides, but lesson learned, don't wait until your leash breaks to replace it. Once a year if used heavily and gets stretched a bunch in bigger surf. Turtlebacks don't take it for granted!